Show-Ho-Ho! Here Are 32 Inspiring Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US Over the Holidays Shows to see across the country this month. Sarah Cascone & Caroline Goldstein, December 13, 2018 Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Index (2010). Photo by Kate Russel, courtesy of Site Santa Fe, New Mexico. With the holidays rapidly approaching, now is the perfect time to visit that museum show you’ve been dying to see. Whether you’re on the East Coast or out West, down South, or in the Midwest, we’ve scoured the country for the best shows currently on view across America. So once you’ve opened all your presents and finished the holiday feast, hop in the car and hit check off the exhibitions on our must-see list. EAST COAST MUSEUMS “Wangechi Mutu: A Promise to Communicate” at the ICA Boston Through December 31, 2018 Wangechi Mutu, A Promise to Communicate (2017) installation view, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2017. Photo by Charles Mayer Photography, ©Wangechi Mutu. The ICA Boston has commissioned Kenya-born artist Wangechi Mutu to make a new hanging wall piece for the museum lobby. The work is a rough, irrational interpretation of a world map, the landmasses formed from the gray rescue blankets distributed by humanitarian aid workers and rearranged. Viewers are invited to engage with the work by writing on the wall beneath the fabric, creating an open forum for conversation, as implied by the piece’s title, A Promise to Communicate. The ICA Boston is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, Massachusetts. General admission is $15. “Ansel Adams in Our Time” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston December 13, 2018–February 24, 2019 Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1941). Photo courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The largest privately held trove of Ansel Adams photographs belongs to the Lane Collection, and it is almost never exhibited. Catch highlights of their holdings at the MFA Boston, with works from the 1920s to the ’70s, including mural- sized prints and other rarities. The MFA Boston is located at the Avenue of the Arts at 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. General admission is $25. “Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Through January 6, 2019 An illustration for Winnie-the-Pooh by E.H. Shepherd. Image courtesy of MFA Boston. The Victoria and Albert Museum has lent a large selection of archival documents connected to the beloved Winnie-the- Pooh children’s book series, including original drawings, letters, photographs, early editions, and assorted ephemera. The first book was published in 1926, by author A.A. Milne with illustrations by E.H. Shepherd, and has since been published in more than 50 languages. The MFA Boston is located at the Avenue of the Arts at 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. General admission is $25. “Laurie Anderson: Chalkroom & Aloft” and “James Turrell: Into the Light” at MASS MOCA Through 2019 Laurie Anderson, “The Chalkroom” (2017). VR installation with Hsin-Chien Huang. Photo: Christin DeFord. MASS MOCA currently has two exhibitions by artists at the forefront of truly “immersive experiences”: Laurie Anderson and James Turrell. Two of Anderson’s virtual reality works are on view, plus an audio archive and a working studio, alongside a selection of light installations by Turrell. MASS MOCA is located at 1040 MASS MoCA WAY, North Adams, MA. General admission is $20. “Thomas Gainsborough: Drawings at the Clark” at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts Through March 17, 2019 Thomas Gainsborough, Landscape with a Clump of Trees on a Hillock (circa early 1760s). Courtesy of the Clark Art Institute, Gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton. The Clark is presenting its entire collection of rarely exhibited landscape drawings by Thomas Gainsborough (1727– 1788), showcasing the British artist’s imaginative approach to the genre in idealized scenes of the countryside. The museum’s complementary exhibition, “Turner and Constable: The Inhabited Landscape” (December 15, 2018– March 10, 2019), presents landscapes by J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776– 1837), who built on Gainsborough’s example to help establish a tradition of great British landscape art. The Clark Art Institute is located at 225 South Street, Williamstown, Massachusetts. General admission is $20. “Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment” at the Princeton University Art Museum Through January 6, 2019 Albert Bierstadt, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite. Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. (Left.) Valerie Hegarty, Fallen Bierstadt. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of Campari USA. (Right.) The natural landscape of the US has been an important touchstone throughout the nation’s art history, with stunning views of the great outdoors helping contribute to the environmentalist and conservationist movements as the need for preservation became more widely understood. In this exhibition, curators Karl Kusserow and Alan C. Braddock have brought together 120 works, from canvases from the great Hudson River Valley School to contemporary video art, offering a picture of the country’s environmental history as seen through the lens of American art. The Princeton University Art Museum is located at Elm Drive, Princeton, New Jersey. Admission is free. “Little Ladies: Victorian Fashion Dolls and the Feminine Ideal” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Through March 3, 2019 Fashion Plate from Godey’s Lady’s Book (March 1874). Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Barbie, created in 1959, is widely credited as the first adult fashion doll. But in the mid-19th century, there was “Miss Fanchon,” a toy doll with a bisque head, a leather body, and a 150 clothing items for little girls to play with, preparing them for life as a proper Victorian lady. The Philadelphia Museum is spotlighting four popular Victorian dolls— plus their adorable, incredibly detailed accessories—to demonstrate how girls’ playthings helped mold them into the feminine ideal. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located at 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. General admission is $20. “Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today” at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC Through August 18, 2019 Elaine de Kooning, Self-Portrait, 1968. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection, ©Elaine de Kooning Trust. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the National Portrait Gallery has tapped over 75 pieces from its vast collection of self-portraits, from artists including Imogen Cunningham, Elaine de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Patricia Cronin, Andy Warhol, and Lucas Samaras, for this exhibition exploring the evolution of the form throughout American history. The early history of photography is represented by an image taken at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair by female photojournalist Jessie Tarbox Beals, while a nude self-portrait completed at age 80 by Alice Neel upends the tradition of the female nude. And for an utterly 21st-century take on the self- portrait, there’s Evan Roth’s Internet Cache Portrait, a 60-foot- long vinyl print out of every image he saw on the internet during a six month period this year. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is located at 8th and F Streets, NW, Washington, DC. Admission is free. “Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC Through April 28, 2019 Installation view of “Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photo courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose work exists at the nexus of art, technology, and design, presents three art installations based on interactive technology. His immersive environments are equipped with heart-rate sensors that record visitors’ biometric data, generating kinetic and audiovisual experiences based on their vital signs. The Hirshhorn Museum is located at Independence Avenue & 7th Street, Washington, DC. Admission is free. “Charline Von Heyl: Snake Eyes” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC Through January 27, 2019 Charline von Heyl, P (2008). Courtesy of the artist and Petzel Gallery. Charline von Heyl‘s paintings range from geometric-abstractions to hazy clouds of color—there is no overarching theme, but there is plenty to marvel at. Throughout this exhibition, the artist’s largest institutional show to date, there are cartoon- like graphics, a range of textures and styles, intricate patterns, and titles that challenge what you think a painting is about. The Hirshhorn Museum is located at Independence Avenue & 7th Street, Washington, DC. Admission is free. “Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950” at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Through February 18, 2019 Gordon Parks, Marva Trotter Louis, Chicago, Illinois (1941). Photo courtesy of the Gordon Parks Foundation. Noted Civil Rights photographer Gordon Parks (1912–2006) got his start shooting for the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, and Standard Oil (New Jersey). In its current exhibition, the National Gallery focuses on the first decade of the great photojournalist’s career, when he began to develop his own artistic style while forging important relationships with the likes of Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison. The National Gallery of Art is located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets along Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Admission is free. MIDWESTERN MUSEUMS “Devastated Lands” at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri Through December 22, 2019 Georges Capon, French poster for the Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévastées. Courtesy of the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The desolation caused by fighting during World War I left whole villages reduced to rubble and much of the Western Front in Europe in ruins, shocking American troops and Red Cross workers.